Night Shift
by LyraLollygagger
Summary: Carson experiences the joys of working the night shift. – My first published fanfic, more like a 485 word drabble, written to get my brain working.


Title: Night Shift

Author: Lyra Lollygagger

Rating: K

Summary: Carson experiences the joys of working the night shift.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Atlantis, or any part of the Stargate franchise. None of the characters mentioned belong to me either, however I did give one character that was mentioned in the episode "Tabula Rasa" a first name and gender. (Thanks belongs to the Stargate Wiki site for supplying that information.)

Author's Note: This is my first work of fanfiction, so I would really appreciate reviews. I would like to know what people think, but please be nice. I believe it's possible to give criticism in a positive way.

I envision the following story as taking place in early season one.

Happy reading!

As the sun began its ascent over the planet's ocean, the Ancient city of Atlantis came alive with morning activity. Behind the scenes of the city's activity worked the infirmary personal, having never ceased working throughout the night.

Carson Beckett, the Atlantis Expedition's Chief Medical Officer, yawned as he sat down at his desk. Dawn could not have come soon enough for Carson. Ellen Nieves, a doctor on Carson's night staff, had twisted her ankle while climbing the stairs to the infirmary to start her 8-hour shift the previous evening. Feeling sorry for both Ellen and his understaffed infirmary, Carson had offered to help cover her shift, putting him on duty for a second shift that day and a total of 16 hours.

Grabbing his laptop, Carson attempted to do some paperwork now that the infirmary had finally quieted down some. He had been on his feet most of the night attending to patients. In the middle of the night Miko Kusanagi, one of Rodney McKay's scientists, had come to the infirmary with the flu, and fortunately was doing much better now due to some medication, an IV, and some solid rest. Jinto, an Athosian lad, had bruised his leg badly while playing with some of his friends outside of the Athosian main camp on the mainland. Knowing that Halling was pretty worried, Carson had taken the time to assure the father that his son's leg was not broken, but would require cold treatments and rest. Later he realized how odd it seemed for a young lad to be up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and he made a mental note to himself to ask Teyla about it later.

McKay's hand suddenly appeared on Carson's shoulder, making the doctor jump in his seat. "Now Rodney," Carson lashed out, "you shouldn't startle people like that – doing so could give somebody a bloody heart attack!"

"Oh, I didn't startle you that bad, Carson! Perhaps you should get some sleep though, because you look tired, and it also might help with the jumpiness."

Questioning Rodney's attempt to be helpful, Carson replied, "I believe I _was_ sleeping, Rodney, until you woke me up!"

Rodney let out a breath of unbelief. "Sleeping? That wasn't sleeping, that was trying to stay awake and loosing! Undisturbed sleep should take place in a bed, Carson, which is why one of your nurses sent me over to wake you when I came up here to check on Miko."

"Very well," said Carson as he glanced at his watch and realized his second shift had officially ended. With a tired gait, he left the infirmary soon afterwards and made his way toward his quarters. X-rays, paperwork, and IV's would have to wait for Carson until he started his next shift.

Yawning, the doctor reached the door to his quarters, went inside, and crawled into bed. ZPM's, puddlejumpers, and floating cities soon filled Carson's dreams.

Author's Note: I didn't say anything at the beginning because I didn't want it to influence how people interpreted the story when they read it, and I also wanted to see if people were able to notice it on their own: but for those who didn't notice, this fanfic is 26 sentences long and uses each letter of the alphabet to start each sentence. For me, it was a good way to start the writing process.

Thank you for reading! Please review!


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